"JJ = Ken Stabler" -- Sam and Al
I know there's a lot of hate for Al Borges around here, but he provides some data points that are worth considerating, and maybe incorporating. Sam and Al talk a lot about JJ in a very positive way.
My takeaway from Al is he is convinced the team believes that JJ can take them where they want to go, and that is the comparison with Stabler and the Raiders, where, ostensibly, the Raiders offense always trusted implicitly in their QB. Al is convinced the team trusts JJ to take them to the endzone every time they have the ball, and that trust is critical.
If you can listen in the background while getting some work done, I recommend:
October 12th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
OTOH, if opponents want to sell out on the run whenever they see motion, they should feel free to do so.
BUT. Both Tony Gerdeman (he of Michigan Monday) and Brian have both identified massive run/pass tells. Pistol = run, and according to Gerdeman, if the RB is lined up even with the QB, that's a pass.
I'll add in that Indiana exposed another tendency: when Donovan Edwards is in the game, the ball goes to him. Indiana figured that out and did good work containing him.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:27 PM ^
So we hired Matt Weiss partly due to his analytics genius and we have a massive tell before we start playing real opponents. Pretty sure this will change against real teams. Only offensive game plan that needed to be tricky was Iowa, and it was fantastic. I predict the game plan against PSU is also excellent.
If I'm wrong, thanks to Indiana for exposing our tells.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
Hills - oh my - that's 50% - It would appear an opposing D wouldn't know - or be leaning one way or another. Thanks for the insight there.
October 12th, 2022 at 6:05 PM ^
Has Borges (or has anyone) broken down the different kinds of motions?
There are short motions (like the one Johnson did on the TD after JJ moved him out); there are short motions which change which receiver is #1, 2, or 3 to that side, but don't change sides; there are TE/wing motions to the POA or to insert, There are back motions out of the backfield. There are also jet sweep or orbital motions which are for runs or play-action passes. Maybe Klatt was thinking of wide/slot receiver motions across the formation, which will change the passing strength of the formation, which can often bring a change in coverage. It is possible that at this stage of JJ's development, they don't want to add that layer of confusion just yet.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
Then we need some photos of JJ smoking cigarettes, playing pool, drinking whisky
October 12th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
Better Snake?
-Plissken
-Stabler
-Don Prudhomme
October 12th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
That list too difficult to choose between all three are great in their own right.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
Another "Snake"--Carmine The Snake Persico. Mob boss also nicknamed "the immortal". Multiple failed hits on him. One time he was shot in the face and reportedly spit out the bullet.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Jake 'The Snake' Roberts from the WWF back in the day...
October 12th, 2022 at 1:37 PM ^
I was just about to add his name. What kid didn't try the DDT on a family member or friend?
October 12th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
My vote is for Plissken.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
I thought he was dead.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
Solid
October 12th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
Those might be three of the greatest snakes of all time.
However, you neglected to provide either Urban Meyer or Jim Tressel as options.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
what about OnAPlane?
October 12th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
I have to admit, I like Borges a lot more these days because of the stuff he's doing with Sam and DG.
He also pokes fun at himself quite a bit. Seems like a good guy, if not a good playcaller.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
agreed - he's a really good guest.
there are so, SO many people that are better in the booth than on the sideline / front office...matt millen, anyone? how 'bout dick vitale?
October 12th, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Why don’t they use actual highlights and telestrator anymore. That’s the only segment I look forward to each week.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
Copyright issues, the 1st (non telestrated) show runs ads the second does not.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
They do the telestrations in a separate video. This is because of monetization. Their videos with the telestrations get demonitized and they make no money from it.
So, they have MMQB with Devin on Mondays, then Borges on Tuesdays (both talking and both monetized). Then usually Tuesday night they upload the videos with telestrations (demonitized).
October 12th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
They explain why they don't do that at the beginning of each of their videos
October 12th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
k.
Do we think Roman is back this week? I think that's critical. Not 1 deep ball last week.
I feel like JJ still has some jitters early in games. Overthrows and some hard thrown balls that don't hit the WRs in stride. Our WRs are pretty good, so they make most of the plays, but would be nice to hit some guys with touch and in stride when the opp presents itself. Gonna be important this week and against msu, illinois and osu.
Hope he keeps developing and even more than that, I hope the coaches trust him to make the decisions he needs to, to win us the games!
October 12th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
JJ threw one deep ball. Overthrew Bell by 1 yard, maybe.
I hope Roman is okay, but we have the horses to still stretch the field.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
Agreed--such as Andrel Anthony. Has anyone figured out why AA still seems to be under-utilized? I would have thought with Wilson out he would have gotten more targets, but at Indiana he only got two that I can recall (and both were complete for first downs). There were other times I saw him open too.
October 12th, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
In my opinion all of our WRs are under-utilized. It’s interesting to me how many people are exclusively focused on how this applies to our 4th WR.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:32 PM ^
That's a fair point. But personally, I have a special interest in Anthony because I live in EL (he overlapped in high school with my oldest) and I used to watch him play on Fridays.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
He’s completed 78% of his passes. The “jitters” you’re perceiving apparently aren’t causing too many misses.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
My goodness. Ask a question on here and people get personally offended. I didn't say he had a ton of missed throws, picks, and incompletions.
I'm talking about the accuracy of his throws - hitting the WR in the right spot. Last game, he had some high/wide throws, many of which were caught. As the game wore on, I saw less.
Unclench.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:10 PM ^
This tweet is from last week before the Indiana game. Nothing definitive, but it is encouraging that:
a) TMI thinks he is expected back for the PSU game
b) He's not in the concussion protocol
October 12th, 2022 at 3:40 PM ^
Delhi, this is good news. There were some comments about this last week. The perspective I shared was - a player "in" the concussion protocol usually misses more than one game to recover.
Very glad it was not concussion protocol for Roman Wilson.
Go Blue!
October 12th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
I realize he's making a football comparison, but I saw the headline and thought it was a joke.
By all appearances J.J. is an altar boy of sincerity and meditation. Snake was a combination of Willie Nelson and Burt Reynolds with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
Definitely only an on-field comparison! Every analogy has its weakness...
October 12th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
We will always have Stabler's cameo in the Saturday Night Live faux commercial for "Lung Brush", which was basically a pipe cleaner for respiratory tract, of course.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
The context of the comparison was not the players themselves, but the confidence the team has in a QB.
Al brought up the example of Raiders' players having the belief Stabler would get them in the endzone, even if a play or plays failed during the drive.
Al thought the team's confidence in JJ is growing, and that it will really add to the squad's success.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
I liked MMQB yesterday when Devin and Sam were roasting Al Borges for having his wedding on a fall football Saturday
October 12th, 2022 at 1:37 PM ^
I’ll give someone a dollar if they offer Sam a sack of money to dig up some dirt on whats wrong with NHG.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:24 PM ^
NHG actually dressed for Colorado State and from comments at that time, he was something like a game-time decision. We definitively know he has a soft tissue injury (which could mean a lot of things) and that he's "working through it" according to our loquacious head coach. I found one site that says it's rumored to be a hamstring, but who knows.
My best guess is that he was close to being ready to go in early September but did something to reaggravate his injury. Hoping that he gets healthy soon and can plug back in to help the defense/LB corps.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
No, the better comparison was Fran Tarkenton
October 12th, 2022 at 2:29 PM ^
Seems like a strange comparison.
Why not... JJ is like Trevor Lawrence with better hair.
October 12th, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
I mean Al might have also had his hands tied by Hoke and DB. He knows football, he's not exactly incompetent with regards to football.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:03 PM ^
Just speaking for myself here, but I haven't been this hopeful/excited for an individual players' talent/potential since Jabrill Peppers signed with M.
JJ really seems to be "Him" as the young people would say.
October 12th, 2022 at 5:51 PM ^
Comparing a kid who’s started 3 or 4 games to a HOF QB is just another kind of September Heisman.
October 12th, 2022 at 10:31 PM ^
He's not comparing them as players. He's comparing the confidence both teams had in their respective QB.
October 12th, 2022 at 9:47 PM ^
I thought it was Sam and Artificial Intelligence.
October 12th, 2022 at 11:42 PM ^
I have never before posted a comment without reading/ hearing the referenced piece, but why in the world does anyone on this board care about what Al Borges has to say about football strategy?
Al Borges could not figure out how to use Denard Robinson, for crying out loud. Did anyone here see Denard's sophomore season? Al Borges must have missed the film. Al Borges turned a dynamic explosive weapon into a mediocre drop back QB. Al Borges had many, many OC jobs because he had experience, but nobody ever wanted him to stay.
October 13th, 2022 at 8:25 AM ^
Hilarious that Al compared the QBs explicitly on how much the team trusts them to score, yet every comment is about how the QBs directly compare. That's not remotely what Al was talking about.
October 13th, 2022 at 10:40 AM ^
JJ started out exceptionally well - And he gets better each week. Gonna be a fun ride!